Psalms 46:4 - Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

There is a river, the streams whereof, &c.— Or, as some render it, The river by its streams, &c. But the version of the Liturgy is nearer the Hebrew: The rivers of the flood thereof shall make glad the city of our God; the holy place, &c. i.e. "The rivers, which sweep all other fenced cities before them, shall be so far from hurting us, that they shall make glad the city of our God; they shall be the occasion of great joy to us upon our victory over our enemies, &c." The Psalmist appears to have been warmed with a grateful sense of their late deliverance, so that his imagination rises from one thing to another. His trust in God was so steady, that he exhorts his subjects not to fear, though all other nations should be in confusion; though their enemies, like the sea, should rage and swell, and threaten them most violently; nay, though they should destroy all other fortified places at pleasure: for, though the rivers of that flood of ungodly men should set all their forces against Jerusalem, they should be so far from succeeding, that he assures them, the effect of that attempt should only be to furnish matter of joy and triumph for them. The LXX seem to have taken it in this sense, who translate it, the forces, or vehemence of the river; and the Ethiopic version, the river which runs rapidly. Bishop Patrick understands it differently, and paraphrases it thus: "Our hearts shall be quiet and still, like the river which runs through our city:" And Piscator, Hammond, and others, speak much to the same purpose; who mention the brook Gihon, which waters Jerusalem, and the streams of Siloa, which flow softly.